Considerations

When planning significant changes to courses utilized throughout many programs and/or are foundational for other coursework (requisites), advanced planning must be done. This should be done no later than 1 year in advance of the change/discontinuation in order to communicate the change to the campus community and to plan out the affects of your change. 

Where is the course used?

Early in discussions, departments must consider where a course is used and how long it may take to transition to a different course for these uses. DAPIR can help identify where a course is used.

• Course catalog requisites
• Program requirements
• Placement tests or matrices
• Institutional policies
• Transfer equivalencies

Timing

Recommended time to keep discontinued or change course references in catalog requisites: 5 years

Recommended time to keep discontinued or change course references in programs: until the course change/discontinuation takes effect.

Roles/Responsibilities

Department Responsibility

1. Notify school or college academic planner when considering the deactivation or substantial change of course with significant impact (utilized in many programs and/or catalog requisites).
2. Determine how much longer you plan to offer the course (if discontinuing), or when you want the change to take effect (if changing). Substantial changes should be done effective a fall term to coincide with the start of a new academic year.
3. When submitting change/deactivation, list all departments using the course in their curriculum in the vested interest.
4. When submitting a change/deactivation, list all subjects using the course in their catalog information (description, requisite) in the vested interest.

School/College Dean's Office or Academic Planner Responsibilities

1. Notify Data, Academic Planning & Institutional Research (DAPIR) of the intent to discontinue a course or substantial changes with a large impact.
2. Provide the timeline by which the course will no longer be offered (last term to offer), or the desired term the change.
3. Provide communication plan to advisors/department support people/etc. with the plan for alternatives (if applicable).
4. Provide plan for updates to downstream impacts (Third-party test credit, placement exams, etc.)

DAPIR Responsibilities

1. Identify academic impacts (programs and course).
2. Provide guidance on when proposals must be submitted related to Guide publication. (Deactivations recommended timeframe - spring semester after the January mid-cycle.)
3. Facilitate communication between schools/colleges.

Office of the Registrar Responsibilities

1. Identify and provide a list of impacted courses (requisites).
2. Implementation: DARS is end dated so any student who has already taken the course will still have the course fulfill their requirements.
3. Implementation: Identify courses that have been deactivated and/or changed in 7 years and will automatically update the content in SIS.

Approval process (future-dated deactivations)

The workflow approval process remains the same for future-dated deactivations. Please indicate the final term of deactivation in the proposal (End Term) and in the rationale for deactivation.

1. DAPIR slates the course on the next available UCC agenda.
2. DAPIR adds the deactivation hold workflow post-UCC approval (UCC Approved-Deactivation Hold)
3. DAPIR advances the course deactivation to the Registrar once it can officially be deactivated/processed in SIS.